Feast of the Holy Cross and the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity - 2013

For the Feast of the Holy Cross - 14 September:

http://orderofcenturions.org/documents/holy_cross.html

The is a link on that page that will also take you to the history of the feast. Be sure to check it out.

The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity.

Psalm 119.121-128

Feci judicium

121. I DEAL with the thing that is lawful and right : O give me not over unto mine oppressors.
122. Make thou thy servant to delight in that which is good : that the proud do me no wrong.
123. Mine eyes are wasted away with looking for thy health : and for the word of thy righteousness.
124. O deal with thy servant according unto thy loving mercy : and teach me thy statutes.
125. I am thy servant, O grant me understanding : that I may know thy testimonies.
126. It is time for thee, Lord to lay to thine hand : for they have destroyed thy law.
127. For I love thy commandments : above gold and precious stone.
128. Therefore hold I straight all thy commandments : and all false ways I utterly abhor.

The Collect.

O LORD, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 12
Psalter: Psalm 98, 99 | 89, 59
Epistle Reading: Ephesians 3.8-21
Gospel Reading: St. Luke 7.11-18

Barbee and Zahl: “The point to underline for us is the link between God’s pity and God’s cleansing. ( . . . ) “Pity” here, in the Collect for Trinity XVI, refers to God’s compassion, His disposition and temperament of mercy that is continual, unchanging. The idea is that this compassion has the potency to cleanse. We can liken it to that power of tenderly affectioned empathy for us in our need that is able to reduce us to tears. The empathy of another who truly loves me moves me. Christ’s pity on the Syrophoenician woman, the man born blind, pathetic Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene, Bartimaeus at Jericho, me and you: This can touch us where we live. Being moved to tears and the emotional encounter of being loved in our real state cleanses us. Let His continual pity cleanse and defend us evermore” (101).
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For those of you who are interested, the is a link on my blog that will take you to a great book that you can now download for free: “The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity” written by an astute Catholic author, Leon Podles. I read this book years ago and found it powerfully convincing, insightful, and truly helpful. http://mphilliber.blogspot.com/2013/09/download-great-book-for-free.html

Primus Pilus II
Mike